$A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 22, 1998
NATION/WORLD
Nigerian
death
tolls
nse
JESSE, Nigeria (AP) - A bell-
ringing town crier was sent to Jesse
yesterday to call for the injured to
return to hospitals, while state radio
announced that the death toll from the
fireball that tore through this south-
ern Nigerian town has risen to 700.
"We cannot force them to stay in
hospitals," said the region's nursing
supervisor, D. Omamor. She said she
knew of 10 patients who had gone
home against their doctors' advice,
fearing they would be arrested for
gasoline theft if they stayed. She said
she believed there were many more.
"They left on their own volition,"
said Omamor, who ordered the bell
ringer, a man who lives nearby, to
head to Jesse.
Saturday's explosion occurred,
while as many as 1,000 people -
using buckets, pots, any recipient
they could get their hands on -- were
trying to scoop up gasoline pouring
from holes in the pipeline.
As well as state radio, the Nigerian
newspaper Daily Express reported at
least 700 deaths, about 200 more
than the count the day before. The
newspaper, based in the capital
andals familiar
mericans
Lucky Okurume describes how he lost his brothers Monday, as flames leap from a still burning oil pipeline in Jes
near Ward in Nigeria's oil rich Delta State yesterday, 72 hours after it exploded.
I ~ss X~k~Times
TYORK - Te world econo-
ring on the brink, vhile vio-
s around the globe. At home,
ncorous partisanship and a
p inik of moral leadership. But
l y e in the newspapers is sex,
sndal and endless gossip.
Don't people have more important
t igs to worry about?
The scenario may be familiar, yet the
time was 1919 and the place was Paris.
Although you'd expect people to focus
on te Versailles Peace Conference,
which was redrawing the map of a dev-
astated postwar Europe, Parisians
couldn't get enough of Henri Desire
Larutu, a swindler on trial for murder-
ing 10 women and scattering their
h arred remains on country roads.
"The newspapers, bewildered at the
sudden absence of a war communique,
flung t hemselves on this," wrote histo-
rian Wlliam 3olitho. "The mob in cry
a t er their murderer did not notice, or
re delghted to notice, the concomi-
ant shorness ofnews about the Peace
Confrence."
Then i now, scandal has played a
cental role in modern culture, and
Amerncans who think sensational sto-
ries began with Monica Lewinsky and
OJ. Simpson need a history lesson.
indeed, salacious tales of sex, murder
ad o r ruption date back to the found-
ing of the republic. What is new, how-
ever, are the scope and intensity of
these mredia spectacles. America has
entered what some observers are call-
S m anAge of Permanent Scandal an
era when marathon stories like
Clinton-Lewinsky and the Simpson
murder case are beamed into homes 2
hours a day, for months and even ye
at a time,
To be sure, the Simpson and Clinton
stories have touched raw nerves in
American life, dealing with race, fame
and murder in one case and the presi-
dent's sexual behavior in another. Yet
these scandals take over your home
like house guests who initially seem
amusing, and then stubbornly re fuse to
leave.
"The stories go on forever and th
have a numbing effect ... They invaW
your life and you really can't get away
from them," says columnist Molly
Ivins. "This is the same blockbuster
mentality that you see in publishing, in
Hollywood and other entertainment
arenas."
It's an unprecedented development,
and some experts believe there are dan-
gerous consequences to this quantum
leap in media saturation. While earl*
spectacles may have told grand tales o
good and evil - - allowing audiences to
gossip over celebrities and reaffirm a
common sense of right and wrong -
today's permanent scandals may be dri-
ving Americans apart - and creating the
world's first "scandal immune" culture.
"We all want a grand narrative, a less
on underneath these stories, but
America is a fractured society, with so
many divisions, and it's hard to tell one
tale that everybody can agree with*
says Herman Gray, a University of
California, Santa Cruz, sociologist.
Lagos, cited police who attributed
the increase to the many injured who
have since died.
The toll could reach 1,000, said J.1.
Ogude, the village chief of Jesse, a
scattered, dirt-poor town of about
12,000 people, most either cassava
farmers or small traders.
Counting the dead as well as the
injured remained a frustratingly diffi-
cult task. Some residents were said to
be secretly burying their dead out of
the same fear of prosecution that has
prompted many of those initially hos-
pitalized to return to their mud shacks
and concrete houses where, without
painkillers and medicine, their
chances of recovery were slimmer.
"People are running away," said
Jacob Emogho, one of few residents
who would speak to a reporter yes-
terday. "People are afraid to talk to
any strangers."
Authorities have not said whether
they intend to press charges for the
gasoline theft or the fire, but no
arrests have been made and none are
immediately expected. While author-
ities have prosecuted some pipeline
saboteurs in the past, the reactions in
Jesse appeared to be rooted in a
small-town fear of authority.
To overcome those fears, the town
crier was to promise people they will
not be prosecuted and will be ireatdi
free of charge, eliminating yet an
er reason many don't want to say i
hospitals.
His services were necesa
because the phone service in the area
is abysmal and many people don'
even have radios.
But even for those who remained
under medical care, treatment was
often hard to come by. Hospitals were
overwhelmed by the disaster and were
short on medicine and doctors.
Local officials said, though, that
extra supplies had begun arrivIng
from the United Nations and Israi
doctors were also flying in.
B R I A R W OOD M A L L
U of M and Eastern Michigan, students and
employees. Show us your "M" card or "Eagle" card.
*Not valid on Kiddie Car Classics or Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments
3 94fa J4aebwt& - Briarwood Mall %Z
GEO
Continued from Page 1A
Plaza, the bulk of those attending escorted the
GEO Bargaining Committee to the negotiating
room in the LSA Building.
In March of 1996, the last time a contract was
finalized, bargaining was not enough to produce a
contract.
State intervention became necessary following a
two-day walkout, after which the contract was
resolved in "less than a day," Dirnbach said.
Dirnbach was a bargaining committee, member
during the last negotiations, and some people from
the administrative team also have returned.
Interim Director of Academic Human Resources
Dan Gamble will serve as the chair of the adminis-
tration's bargaining committee, and was also a
member during the last contract negotiation with
the GEO.
Gamble said yesterday's meeting was "a good
constructive discussion," and said that the onset of
this contract's negotiations have a more positive
tone than the 1995-% proceedings.
"We did agree on some ground rules, and we
will be keeping the proceedings close to the vest"
Gamble said.
The rally stressed the need for an organized
effort with diverse support, and a consistent show-
ing of numbers to emphaize the seriousness of
GEO's needs.
"Our arguments are going to mean squat unless
we have real support" Odicri ink said. "We need
to explain to students why our struggle is important
for a better education."
"We are a union, and the University cannot
ignore us," Dirnbach said. "They must negotiate.
The University expects GE) to ask, but not to
fight. We areo o ed, and this University
cannot function wthout us
If the rally was an indicator, GEO has already
begun to muster support. In attendance was a mix
of GEO members and undergraduate students.
"We value graduate instructors very highly"
LSA firstvyear student Camille Brown said.
"Teaching is one of the most valuable professione
and we treat them so poorly."
"It's important for them to get better pay,"
Kinesiology first-year student Jason Shand said. "I
have to rely on my GSIs more than my professors."
About 50 members of the group Detroit Locked-
Out Newspaper Workers, who are still on strike
from The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press
after more than three years, also attended the GEO
rally.
"GEO people have been chained up and arrested
for us," said Detroit Locked-Out Newspaper
Workers representative Kate DeSmett said. "I lo@
around here and I see the next generation of union
activists."
1
DOCUMENT BINDINGS I
Any style, size or color I
WIN
530 E Libey Ann Arbor 761-4539
2609 nymouth Rd., Ann Arbor 996-00501
Bring this coupon to the Kinko's listed and receive document bindings (any .style, size or color) for just $1 each. I
SSubject to availability. Does not include copies. Offer is limited to one coupon per person. Coupon must be presented at
r ti medof purchase and is not valid with other offers or dicounts.ffr valinatd attime of purchase only and may not be discounted or
credited toward past or future purchases. Offer valid at inko's le)lcations only. Coupon void where prohibited by law. No cash 5
value. 02)998 Kinko's, Inc. Ail rights reserved. Kinko's is a ristered Traemrk of Kinko's Ventures, Inc. and is used by permission.
Kinko's requires written permission from the copyrght oLde1 in order to reproduce any copyrighted materials.
AA 32 MOSTLOCATIONS DE 24 HOURS A DAY EXP1130l98
SUNDAY SPECIAL
Wolverines Score
YOU SAVE!
5% off
for every touchdown
upto2 5%off
MUDBOWL
Continued from Page 1A
cancel the event.
"All the sorority presidents agreed
they want to cancel their social events
our of respect for Courtney and her f
ily," Panhel President Mary Gray
"We definitely need to have a little time
to reflect and see where we need to
improve our social environment."
Planned exchanges between fraterni-
ties and sororities will be canceled, but
pre-parties before Saturday's football
game may continue as scheduled.
A victory party for Mudbowl partici-
pants is traditionally held after the bowl
but that has been canceled, Krywko said.
The National Chi Omega Presi t
Mary Ann Fruge announced in a wn
statement yesterday that social activities
will be suspended at the campus chapter
for at least one month.
"During this time, the chapter will
intensify its education on the dangers of
alcohol consumption" Fruge said.
The Greek Social Environment Task
Force was founded by IFC and Panhel in
September to examine a number of fac-
tors in the Greek Community, inclug
underage drinking, party size, defini-
tions of parties and the current joint
IFC/Panhel Alcohol Policy.
=i
w
.